heroesdreamsrebirthfandomcom-20200214-history
Charles Xavier
Professor Charles Xavier is renowned in certain scientific circles as a genetics expert, and his school has some small reputation in the world of academia. He may be recognized from various equal rights campaigns for which he has occasionally served as a speaker or technical expert, particularly in the case of inter- and intra-species rights. Though it is not public knowledge, the Xavier School for the Gifted is actually a training academy where Mutants can learn to control their powers, and the home of the secret special operations group, the X-Men. History Charles Francis Xavier was born the son of Dr. Brian and Sharon Xavier and grew up in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Brian was doing nuclear research for a secret government project along with his colleague Kurt Marko. Young Charles had few friends, but was a reasonably happy child. His life was disrupted, though, when Brian was killed in a localized nuclear blast. It was, fortunately for the others, contained -- but the Xavier family was torn apart. After the funeral Kurt Marko comforted Sharon... and in time, the two married. This made Kurt's son, Cain, Charles's adopted brother, and the larger Cain took the chance to bully Charles mercilessly. Despite this, Charles excelled in school and remained fairly well-adjusted. The family moved to the ancestral Xavier mansion in Westchester County, New York. Sadly, Sharon soon realized that Kurt was only interested in her money, and she took to heavy drinking. Kurt, in turn, became abusive, which made her problem worse. One night she finally succumbed to alcohol poisoning, leaving Charles in the hands of his step-family. Cain was jealous of Charles, whose kinder nature won Kurt's affection, particularly after Sharon's death. This led to Cain inventing a story that it had been Kurt's fault that Brian had died, trying to blackmail money from his father. This caused a fight in Kurt's lab, and Cain knocked over a vial of volatile chemicals. The ensuing blast mortally wounded Kurt, but he still dragged the two boys to safety. With his dying breath, Kurt warned Charles to be wary of Cain, who would be jealous of "his power." Charles would soon realize that his ability to pick up on the emotions of others was more than mere perceptiveness, but an empathic power that would soon develop into full telepathy. He found himself knowing the answers to questions in school before they had ever been taught, and within a few years had the command of impressive prowess; an apparent tradeoff for his premature baldness. He was an excellent athlete, specializing in track and field, but he chose to quit when he realized his powers gave him an unfair advantage over others. He and Cain would continue to clash, and on one occasion Charles even became so angry he used his powers -- a newfound ability to generate stunning psionic bolts of energy -- to temporarily incapacitate his brother. In time Charles won a full scholarship to Oxford and was quick to pursue it. University life suited him well, and he continued to perform well ahead of his class. It was during this time when he first met and befriended young Moira Kinross, who would one day become a valued colleague but at the time was a lovely young lady who drew his interest both intellectually and romantically. This life was interrupted, though, by a call to arms from his native country. The Second Indochina War, also known as the "Vietnam Conflict," had become a battleground between Capitalism and Communism. There Charles witnessed firsthand the horrors of war, and the experience changed him. Rather than become darkened by them, he resolved more than ever to use his abilities to do good. He sought assignment with a search and rescue detail, and his uncommon level of compassion and concern for others earned him the nickname "the Good Shepherd." At one point, he ended up serving in the same unit as his stepbrother Cain. When they came under fire Cain cut and ran, and Charles pursued him. As fate would have it, they happened upon a ruin -- the Temple of Cyttorak. Here Cain was charmed by a glowing gem, which Marko snatched up, and it transformed him into the mighty Juggernaut. This caused a cave-in, which Charles was able to escape, but his stepbrother was buried alive. After Charles was released from the military, he had no immediate reason to return to America. Instead he traveled the world, seeing many places and doing quite a lot of soul-searching. It was in Cairo that a small girl tried to pick his pocket, and he noticed something unusual about her. Before he could investigate this, though, he was attacked. Fortunately, the strike came via the astral plane, and he was strong enough to resist. Tracking the energy to its source, Xavier met Amahl Farouk, self-proclaimed lord of the city's underworld, and the first other Mutant Charles had ever met. A confrontation ensued and, in a duel on the astral plane, Xavier was forced to unleash his power in a devastating attack on Farouk. This apparently dispersed the other man's very essence and killed him, and Charles was for the first time forced to confront the idea that Mutants could use their powers to tyrannize, rather than help, all of mankind. Shaken by the experience, Charles left the city and moved on to the Middle East. In Haifa, Israel, he encountered an old friend from school operating a shelter for those traumatized by various wars and conflicts. Some of these were Holocaust survivors, and among them was a man who he came to know as Magnus. The two became fast friends, kindred spirits of a sort, and extensively discussed the possibilities of human genetic mutation -- neither knowing the other was a Mutant. They disagreed strongly on a number of points; mainly, Charles had hope for Mutant coexistence with mankind, while Magnus felt that such was impossible because humans would always hate and fear Mutants. A clash with terrorists forced Xavier and Magnus to reveal their powers, tracking the terrorists back to their underground base where they had stockpiled weapons and gold. The pair defeated the enemy force, and when the battle concluded they confronted one another. Magnus wanted Charles to join him in building a Mutant empire, but Xavier refused. Magnus left with the terrorists' gold, and Charles was left to fend for himself. Whether it was Magnus who caused it or something else entirely, the compound's generator exploded and it collapsed around Xavier, leaving him trapped beneath the rubble. He was barely able to call for help, telepathically, before he passed out from the severity of his injury. However help came, it did come. He awoke in a hospital, and while he recovered from the worst of his injuries, he was left with spinal damage that rendered him paraplegic. Months of therapy restored him to the point where he felt able to confront the world as -- what seemed to him at the time -- half a man. Time and contemplation would cure him of that notion, and studies of the political and social climate would lead him to a conclusion. Even the beloved superheroes of previous decades had been swept under the carpet by the government, and so it seemed unlikely that Mutants would be readily accepted. So he set about calling in old favors, making contacts, and pooling his resources. Lack of independent mobility meant an effective end to his days as a man of physical action, but they marked the beginning of a whole new purpose. Xavier's school first opened in the early 1990's with a small group of very special students. Charles found each of them, gave them a place to belong, and encouraged them. They learned to use and control their powers, even as he had done in the past. He passed his fiftieth birthday half wondering where the years had gone, and half looking with pride on his masterwork. That first group of students had by now come to call themselves the X-Men, and had fought in secret many times both to protect mutants, and to protect humans from mutants. In many ways, the first part of his dream had been fulfilled. Change, however, remained ever afoot. Recent years have brought many changes, particularly as Mutants have begun to move into the public eye. Another event, though, has cast things in a new light. After the public trial of Superman and Congress's decision to repeal the "Metahuman Relocation Act," it opened up a whole new door of possibilities. With new challenges come new opportunities, and for all the uncertainty the future may hold, it also promises hope. Category:Features Category:Characters Category:Hero Category:Taken